Stephen t



s. T, PEARCE.A

Ore Separator..

4Patented Aug. 41, 1868.

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Lam Penman. sarcasme August 4, 186s;

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CGNGERN:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN T. PEAItcn, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented new and usefullmprovements in Machinery for Separating Ore and other Granular Substances; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, refercucebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication. v

The object of this invention is to provide an improved method of separating orcs and other granular substances by the action of centrifugal force, whereby the employment of water or air, by which a materialipropor-v tion of the liner particles is lost, may be dispensed with. p I

It consists, according to one example of my invention, in the employment of a vertical, hollow, rotating cylinder, towhich the pulverized ore is fed by any suitablemeans, and which is provided with lateral dischargingtubcs near the bottom, through which the ore or other substance is impelled by the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the cylinder, in combination with the graduated annular receptacles under the said cylinder, into which the substance will be discharged, according to its specific gravity.

The drawing represents a sectional elevation of my improved apparatus.

A represents a vertical tube, supported in a suitable framing, B, and provided with any 4suitable means for rotating it, as, for instance, a spin-wheel, C, and pinion, D. It is also, by preference, madc'to be contracted or extended lengthwise, andl is provided with lateral discharging-tubes E, of any desired number, arranged to project in axial or curved lines, as preferred.

F represents a series of funnel-shaped receivers,arranged below the tube, into which the ore or other substance is discharged, and from which it may be conveyed by separate spouts to other receptacles, or to elevators, to be conveyed back again to be passed through again, or to other similar separating-rnachines.

The ore is first pulverized by any approved' method, and then sifted or screened, for the pulposeof sizing it accurately. llt is then passed through the rotating tube, as above described, whereby the particles, 011 emerging from the tubes E, which are preferably made larger at the discharging-end, will have acquired a velocity due totheir weight, and being of uniform size, those which areV heaviest will be discharged into the outermost receptacle, While the lighter ones will fall into the others, according to their weight-or velocity.

My improved apparatus may be used for separating grain and other substances; and for separating seedgrain it is especially useful, for the reason that the heaviest grains possess the best gcrmina-ting quality; hence it is highly desirable to separate it with especial reference to Weight.

In the nercres, as gold, a`large and valuable part exists in tine particles of dust, which, in the present methods of separating by the use of water and air, is entirely lost, being carried off with the water or air.

To preserve these fine particles, and at the same time separate them from the baser particles of dust, Ipropose to make use of a centrifugally-acting machine within an air-tight chamber, from which the air may be exhaustedv to produce a vacuum, wherein, `the Vfine particles not being resisted by theV air, will obey the same law of centrifugal action as the heavier particles, as above described.

Various other arrangements of means for iinpelling the ore may be used, and instead of the lateral tubes E, a flat disk may be arranged at the bottom of the tube, frourwhich the ore may be discharged, and instead of carrying the ore to the disk through the tube, the disk may he secured to a shaft', and the oredischarged on to it from a spout, or when a tube is used, it may have an enlargement at? the bottom, lhaving radial perforations through which the ore may bedischarged. i

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The employment of means for .impelling ores and other granular substances by centrifugal force, in combination with graduated receptacles for separating them, either in the atmosphere, or n vacuo, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. .The combination of the adjustable tube A, provided with the lateral tubes E, or their equivalent, with the receptacles F, substantially as and for the purpose described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me, this 15th day of July, 1868.

, S. T.PEARCE.

Witnesses:

FRANK 'BLoeKLnr, Guo. C. COTTON. 

